Selvage opener for tentering machines



Feb. 25, 1936. w. D. RUNDLETT SELVAGE OPENER FOR TENTERING MACHINES Filed March 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l III/MM! INVENTOR. w'mw @W ATTORNEY.

Feb. 25, 1936. w. D. RUNDLETT 2,32,7

SELVAGE OPENER FOR TENTERING MACHINES Filed March 18, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

WM @W ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 25, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SELVAGE OPENER FOR TENTERING MACHINES Massachusetts Application March 18, 1932, Serial No. 599,651

16 Claims.

The invention relates in general to cloth expanders which are used to spread and stretch a running length of fabric widthwise, and in particular to devices of this sort which exert their stretching or expanding action primarily upon the portions of the fabric at and adjacent the two selvage edges, with the object of unfolding inturned portions of the selvages, and smoothing out and spreading these portions to their full extent so that they may receive proper treatment in subsequent processes.

In the finishing of woolen fabrics particularly, it is customary in the fulling operation to sew the two selvages together lengthwise of the piece,

5 which usually results in the folding over of the marginal portions of the selvages lying outside of the seam, and in this and subsequent treatments the folds become pressed in, felted together, and set so firmly that considerable difficulty is experienced in getting the extreme marginal portion of the selvages to lie in the plane of the rest of the width of the fabric. This is especially troublesome when the cloth arrives at the tentering machine, as for the purpose of being dried 25 while stretched widthwise, and results in the tenter pins engaging with the body of the fabric instead of with the true selvage portion, which has been woven with a construction especially adapted to withstand the engagement of the tenter pins,

30 with the result that the cloth is very often torn by the pins, or at least is spread so as to leave unsightly apertures at points inward of the exact selvage, and in extreme cases the cloth presents objectionable variations in width because its full 35 width has not been subjected to the stretching action of the tentering machine. Further, the folded selvages may even cause the fabric to fail to be seized at certain points in its length by the pins of the tenter, which at the least means that such portion of the fabric will not be stretched as desired, and at the worst may mean that the cloth will be damaged or destroyed within the tentering machine through sagging and being caught by tenter pins travelling in the opposite di- 45 rection.

The objects of the present invention are to provide a novel and improved cloth expander adapted to operate as a selvage opener in conjunction with a tentering machine, designed to be guided in 50 following the selvage throughout deviations in the path of the margins of the fabric by the same devices which are commonly used to guide the tenter chains automatically into engagement with the selvage, to be driven by the tenter chains, to permit adjustment of the degree of expanding action to the specific needs of the fabric being operated upon, to permit separation of the rolls performing the expanding action to facilitate starting the cloth through between them, and to prevent damage to the cloth through catching yarns which may be trailing out from the selvages of the fabric being treated. In this last connection, a serious drawback has arisen in the use of prior selvage opening devices, because of the damage resulting from the catching of trailing 10 wefts or broken selvage warps in the driving gears or around the shafts or journals of the unprotected driving parts of the rolls or other expanding devices. When this happens, the yarn thus engaged oftentimes has broken a weft thread within the width of the fabric, or torn the selvage.

With these objects in View, the invention comprises expanding rolls which compress the cloth between them and divert the selvage portions outwardly, and which are adapted to be mounted upon the swinging elements or wings of the tenterchain-guiding structure, to move in and out with the latter in following the path of the running fabric under the guidance of the automatic edgeguiding mechanism, so-called. The movement of the tenter chains is utilized to impart the necessary driving movement to the expanding rolls, and one of each pair of opposed rolls is carried in a swinging mounting which permits their separation by swinging one roll away from the other, to permit the cloth to be inserted, while means is provided for determining the spacing of the rolls from each other when in opposed relation after being closed upon the cloth, under spring pressure which may be modified by a screw to increase or diminish the intensity of their spreading action. All the driving parts of the rolls outwardly of the selvage and within possible range of yarns which may be trailing from the selvage are completely enclosed and housed in stationary portions of the supports or housings for the rolls and their driving parts, so that there are no moving parts by which the trailing ends can be caught.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Fig. 1 is a plan view of certain of the parts of a tentering machine at the point where the cloth is seized by the tenter pins, showing a portion of the tenter chain and its sprocket, and the feelerplate of the automatic edge-guiding device, with the expander forming the invention mounted in cooperative relation with these parts and driven 5 through connections with the tenter-chain sprocket.

Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the parts of Fig. 1, also showing in dotted lines the position of one roll when retracted for insertion of the cloth.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of certain of the parts of Figs. 1- and 2, viewed from the right-hand side in such figures.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, only so much of the customary mechanism of a chain tentering machine is shown as is essential to an understand? ing of the application of the invention thereto. At is indicated a portion of the free end of one of the usual two swinging or shifting portions, or wings, of the chain-guide or track of'a chain tentering machine. These wings, as is well-known, guide the chains 'into -a: position where the tenter pins 3 carried by the links 5 may properly receive the special selvage portion 7 of the running web 9. V V

, Automatic devices on the order of that shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,163,- 56 5;to L. H. A. Schwartz, are commonly employed to effect theadjustment of the position of the free ends of these swinging wings into the proper relation to the more or less constant- 7 1y varying path of the marginal portions of the cloth, and at H is indicated the feeler-plate of the device of the aforesaid patent, secured to the extreme end of. each wing and having the slot, l3 through which hangs the feeler I5, Fig. 3, which is engaged by the edge of the running cloth and which hasa contact arm H to make contact with one or other of the terminals l9 to actuate the driving motor l6 which through belt 22 and pulley 24 rotates the screw l9 passing through nut 20 on the wing to effect the appropriate shift of the wing inward orroutward to match the path of travel of. the margin ofthe cloth. r 7 r V In accordance withthe invention, there are combined with this well-known structure at each side of the path of travel of the cloth two or more expanding rolls 2|, 23, which preferably have helical flutes or grooves 25 formed thereon in the proper direction as regards the relative the interior of the rolls and are themselves travel of their surfaces with respect to the opposingsurface of the cloth tothrust and smooth and stroke the cloth in a general outward direction, away from the middle line of the running web. While it is to be understood that the'rolls may be rotated either with or against the travel of the cloth, for obvious reasons it is preferred to drive them counter to the travel of the opposing surface of the cloth, and the flutes or grooves 25 shown in Fig. 3 have the proper di- 7 rection for such preferred operation.

These rolls are located in opposed relation and preferably with their axes in the'same plane, so

that they will compress the cloth between them' and each support the cloth against the action of the other irrespective of the tension on the'cloth. The rolls are hollow, as shown in Fig. 4, and are, mounted for rotation about and normally out of bearing engagement with-theexterior surfaces of sleeves 21 which extend'well within mounted in fixed relation within hubs 29', 3|, respectively of housings 33, 35. The sleeve 21 of the top roll 2| is fixed in its hub 29 by a clamp- 7 ing screw 31, while the sleeve of the bottom roll is fixed in place by a clamping screw 39. In bearings ll fixed within the upper sleeve- 21 there is mounted for rotation a. shat-15.43 to which is fixed, as by clamping screw 45, a hub 41 which gthe lower, sleeve 21 in place in its hub 3|.

is fixedly incorporated with the inward end of the top roll 2|, as by shrinking or brazing the hub 41 therein. On the opposite, outer end of shaft 43 is fixed by screw 49 a spur gear 5|.

The top roll 2| is carried-in a swinging mounting which comprises the housing 33 with its hub 29 which carries the sleeve 21, and a pair of arms 53, 55, integral with the housing, through lugs in the ends of which arms there passes a pivot 51 fixed by screw 59 in a hub 6| at the upper end of a curving arm 53 on a collar 65 clamped around thehub3| of the lower housing 35 by means of the screw 39 which as seen holds This lower housing 35 is applied by means of a foot 6'! and bolts 69"to a bracket 1| ona carrier 13 at each side of the running cloth, such carrier being mounted to slide transversely of the' fabric on rods 15, TI, disposed in the framework of the tentering machine and beneath the traveling fabric 9. This carrier is compelled to move inward and outward 'in exact accordance with the movement of the wing through a pin I9 fixed in a socket 8| on the carrier by a screw 83, the pin sliding in as1eeve85 whose shank 81 swivels in a socket in a lug 89 formed on the side of the wing The Wing I as customary, is supported by a roller 9| rolling on the horizontal flange of an angle iron 93 inconnection with the framework. Thus, whenever the wing is shifted inward or outward to match the path of the marginal' portion of the cloth, the carrier" sociated parts inward or outward an equal'distance, so that the selvage will always fall within the length of the two rolls, andat substantially the same point'in their length.

carries the expanding rolls 2|, 23, and their as The top housing 33, which is pivotally mountcorresponding lug on the side of the collar 65in connection with the lower housing 35. A' spring tion of this screw and the top' surface of the lug on hub 29, to act as a friction device holding the screw in adjusted relation. Thus, if desired,

when the top roll mounting has been swung downward to bring the top roll against the cloth the two rolls" may be spaced apart to lighten the grip of the rolls on the cloth between them, by

screwing the end of the screw down against the lower lug to lift the top rolland its swinging mounting a slight distance away from the lower roll. By varying the spacing ofthe rolls the intensity of the spreading action upon the included portions of the fabric 'may be modified as desired, and in particular the rolls may be spaced mum spreading action, but if its thickness be increased'through being folded or' rolled, the rolls will promptly act to spread and unfold this folded portion. a

ing between them, the bottom roll 23 is provided similarly to the top one with a hub |ll| fixed in 9! is confined between a nut 99 onthe upper por- V 6'5 apart in such manner thata single thickness of r cloth will pass freely between them with-a mini-' its inward end, which hub is secured by clamping screw I03 to the end of a shaft I05 "carried in a bearing I91, fixed in the inner end of the bottom sleeve 27, and also in a bearing I09 in a hub I II extending outward from the bottom housing 35. Within this housing the shaft IE5 is provided with a spur-gear I I3 fixed thereon by screw I I 5, such spur-gear meshing with the gear 5I on the outer end of the top shaft 43 whenever the rolls are closed together in position to cooperate in spreading the cloth. On the protruding outward end of the bottom shaft is fixed by screw II5 a suitable pulley II 1, around which travels a belt II9 driven by a larger pulley I 2I a belttightener I23 on the end of an arm I25 mounted on a pivot I27 being employed to keep the belt tight under the pull of a spring I29 attached to the arm and anchored at I3I to the side of the wing I, the belt-tightener keeping the belt wrapped well around the two pulleys so as to prevent the belt running off when the two pulleys are in different planes. The pivot I21 is fixed in a hub on a bracket I33 fastened to the side of the wing I by screws I35, and a long sleeve I31 also on this bracket forms the bearing for a shaft I39 on the outward end of which is fixed the pulley IZI, and on the inward end of which, within the vertical side flange of the wing I, is fixed a pinion I4I meshing with a gear I45 fastened by bolts I44 to the outer face of the sprocket I45 around which the tenter chain I41 reverses its direction of travel.

Thus, the tenter chain, which is driven by a suitable and ample source of power applied at some other point in the tentering machine, rotates the sprocket I 45 and through gears I43, I4 I, shaft I39, pulleys I 2|, 1, and the intermediate belt II9, drives the bottom roll 23, which in turn drives the top roll 2|, through the interengaging gears 5|, H3. The rolls are rotated in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, so that their cloth engaging surfaces are travelling reversely to the travel of the cloth; also, they are travelling at a relatively high rate of speed, so that their flutes or grooves 25 stroke and spread the marginal portions of the cloth outward in thorough manner, unfolding any inturned or creased selvage portions, and presenting the cloth to the tenter pins 3 so that the special selvage portion I alone will be engaged by the tenter pins. No moving parts are within the range of trailing yarns protruding from the selvage, other than the surfaces of the rolls themselves, which are too large in diameter to afford any real possibility of the trailing ends being wrapped around them in such manner as to be caught and pulled thereby. The drive shafts are completely enclosed and hence shielded by the stationary sleeves which extend far within the interior of the rolls, and hence the yarns are entirely prevented from wrapping around these shafts, especially at the outward extremity of the rolls, which is the point that otherwise would catch a large proportion of the trailing ends. The intermeshing gears driving the two rolls are completely enclosed within their housing, while the bracket 63 serves to divert inwardly any yarns which might otherwise tend to enter the narrow slit between the top and bottom housings, and thus become caught by the gears.

What I claim is:

1. A cloth expander having in combination rolls compressing the cloth between them and extending at right angles to the travel of the cloth, non-rotating supporting means within the rolls and supported wholly outside the width of the cloth, driving means for the rolls independent of the cloth, and means for varying the compressive force exerted by the rolls on the cloth.

2. A cloth expander having in combination rolls compressing the cloth between them, driving means for the rolls independent of the cloth, means supporting one of the rolls with capacity for movement toward and from the other about an axis parallel with the axes of the rolls and for yieldingly pressing the rolls together, and means for varying the degree of such pressure.

3. In a cloth expander of the type having a tenter chain having devices engaging the margin of the cloth, and shiftable means guiding the chain in relation to the path of the cloth, a sprocket on such shiftable means rotated by the chain, rolls engaging opposite faces of the marginal portions of the cloth, and moving with such shiftable means, and means rotating such rolls driven by the tenter chain sprocket.

4. In a cloth expander of the type having tenter chains, chain-guiding members adjustable in relation to the path of the cloth, and means automatically positioning such members, tenterchain supporting devices rotated by the tenter chains, selvage-opening rolls positioned by the chain-guiding members, and means for driving such rolls from the tenter chain supporting devices.

5. A cloth expander having in combination a pair of rolls compressing the cloth between them, a driving shaft for each roll, coengaging gears respectively on the two shafts, and a mounting for each unit comprising the associated roll, shaft and gear, the two mountings being relatively movable toward and from each other to engage the cloth and to permit insertion of the cloth.

6. Roll mounting and driving devices for cloth expanders comprising in combination a support, a sleeve fixed in such support and about which the roll rotates, a shaft mounted for rotation within the sleeve and in driving engagement with the roll, and a driving wheel on the shaft adjacent the portion of the sleeve that is fixed in the support.

'7. A cloth expander having in combination rolls compressing the cloth between them, means for driving the rolls in unison to make their surfaces travel relatively to the cloth, and a swinging mounting for one roll providing for movement of this roll into and out of cloth-engaging relation, while remaining in parallel relation to another of the rolls, and screw means in connection with the swinging mounting determining the yielding pressure tending to force the rolls together.

8. A cloth expander having in combination opposed cloth-engaging rolls, non-rotating sleeves extending within the rolls, and shafts within the sleeves in driving connection with the rolls, the sleeves presenting a stationary surface to yarns of the cloth trailing outward beyond the working surfaces of the rolls.

9. A cloth expander having in combination opposed cloth-engaging rolls, non-rotating sleeves extending within the rolls, and shafts within the sleeves in driving connection with the rolls and having bearing engagement within the sleeves, the sleeves housing the rotating parts outward of the working surfaces of the rolls and adjacent thereto.

10. A cloth expander having in combination opposed cloth-engaging rolls, sleeves about which the rolls are supported for rotation, supporting means for the sleeves, and driving means for "the rolls enclosed within the sleeves and their supporting means, the sleeves presenting an exposed non-rotating surface extending rfrom the outward end of the working surfaces of the rolls away from the cloth, the sleeves also extending within the rolls.

11. A cloth expander havingrin combination cloth-engaging rolls, driving means for the rolls,

and a housing extending within the rolls and. :en-

closing all rotating parts beyond the voutward end of the working surfaces of the rolls and within range of yarns trailing from the cloth.

12. A cloth expander having in "combination cloth-engaging rolls, sleeves about which the rolls are supported 'for rotation, and shafts within the sleeves in driving connection with the rolls, the sleeves enclosing all parts rotating withth'e rolls and adjacent the outer ends thereof.

13. A cloth expander h-avingin combination helically grooved rolls adapted to compress the cloth between them, means apart from the cloth for driving these rolls in a direction to divert the portions of the cloth engaged thereby outwardly widthwise of the cloth and screw means moving the rolls and holding them spaced apart a distance greater than the thickness of the cloth passing between them but less than twice this distance.

14. A cloth expander having in combination a tenter-chain having devices engaging the margin Qmlkfifiwfi of the cloth, shif table means guiding the chains in relation to the :path 01' the cloth, a sprocket on such shi'ftable :means rotated by the chain,

rolls moving with the shiftable means'engaging' opposite faces of the marginalportions'o! the cloth, and means intermediate the rolls and the tenter-ch'ai-n sprocket driving each roll when the latter is in :cloth'engaging position, and permitting movement of at least one of these rolls into non-engaging position.

15.111 'a cloth expander of the type having tenter-chains, chain-guiding devices shiftable in V relation to the path of the cloth, a sprocket on t such shiftable devices rotated by the chain, and means causing such devices to follow the path of the cloth,'selvage-opening rolls engaging opposite faces of the selvage portions of'the cloth, moving with the chain-"guiding devices, and

means for rotating such rolls driven by the V WILLIAM D. RUNDLETI. 

